


The Man Who Failed: Deleted Scenes

by lyryk (s_k)



Series: Sparrington Space AU [2]
Category: Pirates of the Caribbean (Movies)
Genre: Alternative Universe - Space, Deleted Scenes, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-09-23
Updated: 2010-09-23
Packaged: 2019-07-23 09:32:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,676
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16156352
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/s_k/pseuds/lyryk
Summary: This part takes place immediately after Chapter 4 of 'The Man Who Failed'.I didn't include it in the final version of the fic because it includes time travel, which was way too complicated to fit into the story.





	1. Chapter 1

James had lied to Jack.

His intention was to go to the walkway, as he’d told Jack. But it wasn’t to take the walkway up to the top level, which was above ground.

‘Walkway’ was far too structured a term to describe the precarious tower that connected the underground with the higher levels of the planet, which consisted of several levels arranged in concentric circles, covered by an artificial atmosphere ever since global warming had destroyed the Earth’s original atmosphere. The outermost level had originally been the only one that was meant to be inhabited, but as governments had crumbled and the population had reached alarming numbers, the inhabitants of the planet had begun occupying the lower levels that had been meant only for energy and atmosphere generation. The underground area that James was currently in was also connected to the various underground levels of other cities, forming an intricate subterranean network that was governed only by the laws, such as they were, of instinct and self-preservation. Ironically, the tyranny wielded by the King’s Forces meant that the anarchy reigning in the lower levels was preferred by many to the world above ground.

James’s actual destination was a military base on Level Two, the level just below the surface of the planet. The main reason he had lied to Jack was that if he had known where James was going, he might have tried to stop him. Going above ground to try to determine if the chip in his brain was still active was very different from breaking into a subterranean military base where James would almost certainly be instantly killed if he were caught. 

Normally, James would not have hesitated from being honest with Jack, but there had been something about him in their recent meetings that he couldn’t quite put his finger on: a protectiveness that hadn’t been there before, or perhaps a certain reluctance to allow James out of his sight. Jack had always been concerned about James’s safety when he had known James would be in a dangerous situation, but James was almost inclined to think now that Jack had been shadowing him to ensure that no harm came to him.

When he found his way into the Strike Force’s headquarters, the reason for Jack’s behaviour became apparent almost immediately.

 

—

 

The walkway consisted of a strange amalgamation of different means of ascent: staircases, lifts, rope ladders, gaps in the floor that had to be jumped across. James reached Level Two with little difficulty and met hardly anyone along the way; it seemed as if everyone was busy celebrating the King’s downfall.

The doors were unlocked and unguarded, confirming the news reports that the military regime that had been governing the star system had indeed fallen apart with the apparent demise of the King. James had heard nothing about Mercer’s fate, but when he saw him, he realised he had been expecting to see him all along; it was only logical that, given the dissolution of the government, he would come to the one place where he might be able to feel safe.

He was in the laboratory that had been James’s destination: the same laboratory where the chip had been inserted into his head in the first place. It was there that James had hoped to test if the code had been disabled by Davy Jones’s treatment, and he found that he did not even need to access the tech to find out. 

Mercer looked up from the computer he was sitting at with a glance that was only mildly annoyed. ‘I should have seen you coming. Found a way to make yourself invisible, did you?’

‘Ah, James. Just the man I wanted to see.’ Mercer and James both turned their heads as Beckett strolled into the room, hands in the pockets of his imperial robe, as if he’d just been out enjoying a walk rather than been unceremoniously dethroned.

‘Where have you been?’ Mercer snapped irritably. ‘We’re on back-up power, and we’re running out of time.’

‘Now, now, is that any way to speak to your King?’ Beckett addressed Mercer but his eyes were on James, dark with amusement. There was triumph lurking in them, and James was immediately uneasy. This was not the look of a man who had just lost everything he had built over almost a decade.

‘I knew you’d come.’ Beckett smiled. ‘How could you not?’

‘I don’t know what you mean.’ James really didn’t.

Beckett laughed. ‘Come with me. Mercer, stay.’

Ignoring the other man’s indignant sputter, Beckett grabbed James by the sleeve and led him into the adjoining room. It was the medical bay where James had had the procedure done to implant the chip in his head. Only there was someone else strapped to the steel table, unconscious.

‘Missed him, haven’t you?’ Beckett smirked.

James wrenched his sleeve from his grasp and went to Jack’s side. ‘What have you done to him?’

‘Nothing,’ Beckett said quickly, raising his hands in defence. ‘He’s been here for a while from the looks of it, but I had nothing to do with it.’

Even before he said the words, James knew that the Jack he was looking down at was not the Jack he had parted from in the underground scarcely an hour ago. This Jack looked battered, with shadows under his eyes and his coat torn and stained with blood.

Even as James was struggling to piece together exactly what had happened, he felt a silent vibration from his pocket. Two thoughts struck him simultaneously: one, that he hadn’t been carrying a phone, and two, that Jack had hugged him when they said goodbye. 

He reached automatically for the phone Jack must have slipped into his pocket, and saw a text message on the screen: _There is nothing you can do for him. Do not interrupt his timeline. He must go back and stop your execution. Trust me. J._

Ignoring Beckett, James moved closer to Jack and put his hand on his head, stroking his hair gently. It had been chopped short, and some of the strands were stiff with dried blood. It was then that James understood. He _had_ been executed, and Jack had managed to escape from his captors and go back to save his life. There were still things James needed to understand, but he knew now why Jack had seemed so oddly protective of him. 

‘Why him?’ James asked Beckett, glancing up at him as he lounged against the wall, still looking at James with that expression of amusement.

He shrugged. ‘I’ve no idea. I didn’t want him interfering with my regime, but I wouldn’t have hurt him.’

‘You took over the whole star system and tried to have me executed. Forgive me if I can’t believe you wouldn’t hurt Jack.’

‘That was Mercer’s doing,’ Beckett said, sounding mildly offended. ‘I wouldn’t kill you.’

‘And the taking over the universe part?’

Beckett shrugged modestly. ‘I just wanted everyone to worship me, that’s all. Is that so bad?’

Before James could proceed to ignore him, the back-up power supply died with a soft moan, and the room was thrust into complete blackness.

Beckett swore and called for Mercer, and James heard his voice recede as he found his way in the darkness to the adjoining room. Mercer was already screaming for him from the other room. Clearly, whatever they were working on was their topmost priority.

James could not worry about them at the moment, because he knew that the base would automatically lock down in three minutes if the primary as well as back-up power supplies were dead. Mercer also knew this, of course, and it was probably why he sounded panicked. 

James’s hand was still on Jack’s head; he was still limp and unconscious. James took a deep breath. It was the longest second of his life. Every instinct was telling him not to leave Jack, even though the fact that he had texted James from somewhere out there was proof that he would get out of Level Two somehow.

 _Trust me_ , he’d said.

‘I’m sorry,’ James whispered. And then he left Jack there and went to rebuild his world.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This was part of the conversation between James and Jack in the final scene of the fic.

‘Any guesses on who wanted to hurt you that badly?’ James asked when they pulled apart to breathe.

Jack shook his head and kissed the tip of James’s nose. ‘I don’t think it was Beckett. It was someone who wanted to punish me, and not in a good way.’ He grinned and gave James a quick kiss on the lips. ‘The soldiers were clearly just following orders to treat me as a guinea pig for new tech. Sometimes I could almost sense someone else in the room, just outside my range of sight, but I never saw them.’

‘To think that you were down there for months, and I didn’t know. If I’d only—’

‘Hey, none of that,’ Jack said gently. ‘Don’t do that to yourself. You couldn’t have known.’

James pulled him closer, breathing in the scent of him. ‘What happened after you woke up in the lab?’

‘I needed time to recover, and I realised I could go back a few months, around the time I’d been caught, so I could help you in your fight, too.’

‘I knew it was you leading the anarchists. I just didn’t imagine there was another you being held prisoner on my own base.’

Jack rolled off him and pulled James against him so that his head was pillowed on Jack’s shoulder. ‘Stop beating yourself up about it,’ he said. ‘You think I can forget when they executed you, and made me watch?’

James propped himself up on an elbow so he could look at Jack. ‘But you stopped that from happening. You undid it. I can’t undo what they did to you.’

‘You could help by not talking about it,’ Jack said, rolling his eyes.

‘And put my mouth to better use, I suppose?’

‘Well. You said it, not me.’ Jack grinned his lazy, affectionate grin, reaching up to touch James’s face.


End file.
